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“Msiniangalie kama hamnioni’, because I know with the way technology is going at a fast rate, most of you are owners of smart phones … why they are called smart phones I may not know, but ‘wengi mnazo simu za kupangusa’.

I remember some years back when mobile phones started invading the country, and it took me a few months before I became the owner of one, ‘ilikua kubwa kweli’, but at that time it was very stylish.

Those were the days when the gadgets were used for very few purposes, to make or receive a call and to send and receive text messages, ‘hazikuwa na mbwembwe nyingi sana’. People became envious when they saw you clutching your phone which was the size of a healthy cucumber, talking away as if you owned the world, ‘maisha yalikua simpo sana kwa kweli’.

You all know the evolution of the mobile phone industry, how the phones started becoming smaller and smaller and finally the touch screen phones were introduced, ‘simu za kupangusa’….the rest, as they say, is history.

‘Sawa’, it is good to go parallel with the changing world, ‘sina ubishi na hilo’, but if you ask me again, I think Africans, especially Tanzanians, a big number of them, were not ready for this technology, ‘nasema kweli kabisa!’

The reason why I am saying this is known to most of you, the way we behave with our smart phones is very worrisome, kweli kabisa, because it is fast becoming an addiction, kwa kiasi kikubwa ni ushamba. Siku hizi ukiwa kwenye basi utashangaa, people are busy staring into their phones, their fingers caressing the gadgets as if their lives depend on it and conversation as we knew it is gone.

Sawa, the gadgets are made for communication, lakini tukiacha uongo, people have become slaves to these items, mkichukia mchukie tu, ila nasema ukweli, inatisha. The thing which irritates me the most is that people use these gadgets for very weird reasons, na ‘kama hamjui nitawaambia,’ people use them for very dirty behavior, ‘sio wanaume sio wanawake’.

‘Kwa taarifa yenu’, nowadays ‘watu wanatongozana kwenye simu’, if you did not know now you know, ‘msijifanye hamjui’, it is the order of the day with these smart gadgets. ‘Hivi’ on a serious note, ‘wewe mtu mzima, mke wa mtu, na watoto wakubwa’, you meet a man on social media and you start singing love songs?

‘Hivi’ have we reached a stage where finding a woman is done through the smart phone? “Nina uhakika Mwalimu angekua hai hili janga lingemuua”, because families are breaking every day, ‘kisa’……? smart phones.

“Mtu mzima kabisa na heshima zako”, you wake up in the morning, take a long bath while singing love songs in the bathroom, pick the best dress or outfit from your wardrobe and you go and meet someone you met on social media… …’kweli’?

I am not by any means saying that women are the only culprits in this matter, it is simply because there are some men, ‘wengi tu’, who like smooth rides, that is why they can practically break down their accounts so that they can buy a smart phone and hook women… “ndio ukweli, msiniangalie hivyo!” That is why nowadays you find someone so engrossed on their phones ‘mpaka wanapitishwa vituo,’ and if you get to know what they are doing …’wanatongozana tu!’

I really miss those days when you can meet with friends in a pub and you have talks, ‘mnapiga story kweli kweli! Sasa hivi’ you go in a bar and you find a table with six occupants and they are all staring into their smart phones like zombies, ‘maongezi hamna kabisa!’ ‘Hivi’ you take your girlfriend out and both of you spend 90 per cent of the time staring into your phones, ‘halafu’ we believe that we are very smart, ‘kweli!?

’ “Siku hizi mtu akipanda basi, tako likigusa kiti tu,” the phone is out and that face will not be lifted “mpaka mtu anashuka, hata muda wa kuangalia mazingira,” enjoying landscapes and sceneries ‘hamna tena’, busy! ‘Nilishangaa’, people have reached an extent of sending their nude pictures to their lovers or new conquests, “ili iweje? Uchafu huu sio kwa watoto wa shule,” it is done by grown people, some are married while others look like respectable people, ‘upuuzi mtupu!’